Mayoral Candidate Publishes 2012 Worst Landlords of NYC List

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by Adel Manoukian The watch list of the worst landlords in the city is now a whopping 330 after public advocate Bill de Blasio announced the latest additions to the list today. The landlords, who own 360 buildings in total, have made the cut due to a minimum of two hazardous housing code violations. These violations include lack of heat or hot water, lead paint, and toxic mold. The official watch list is on craigslist.org and landlordwatchlist.org to help apartment hunters distinguish the bad from the good. The list has removed 255 buildings that have addressed their violations this past year. The new worst landlord in the top spot is College Management, owned by Eli Abbott, which has three buildings in the Bronx. The buildings, located on 1259, 1265 and 1269 College Avenue have a combined total of 724 housing code violations. As a result, tenants have teamed up with Community Action for Safe Apartments-New Settlement Apartments, Bronx Legal Services and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest to secure a court-appointed "7A Administrator" who will make the much-needed repairs to the buildings that have such issues as infestation of rats and crumbling bathrooms. Right behind College Management is Maritanc Corp., which has 651 hazardous violations in a single building. 1071 Home Corp was at the top of the list last year with 753 hazardous violations and five buildings on the list. This landlord has only improved slightly, now in third place with 649 hazardous violations in four of its buildings. "It takes years of neglect for a building to deteriorate to the point where it ends up on our Watch List," explained De Blasio in a statement released today. "But with enough public pressure and strong tenant organizing, we can turn these buildings around and make life better for thousands of New Yorkers." De Blasio launched the watch list in 2010 to show residents the shameless repeat offenders whose buildings have fallen into an awful state, causing danger to potential residents. Since its start, the online Watch List has been viewed more that 400,000 times.